Wynter Cole-Smith.Photo:Lansing Police Department/ Facebook
Lansing Police Department/ Facebook
Rashad Trice pleaded guilty to a federal charge of kidnapping resulting in death, prosecutors say. He now faces life in prison and will be sentenced in July.
Trice’s ex-girlfriend alerted police on July 2, 2023 after an altercation with him. According to the criminal complaint, the woman said she stabbed Trice in self-defense, after which she claimed he stabbed her before she was able to flee the home.
When police arrived at the home, they found that Trice and the woman’s 2-year-old daughter, Wynter Cole-Smith, were missing, the complaint says.
According to the plea agreement, Trice admitted to taking Wynter in a Chevrolet Impala and driving toward the Detroit area. Trice played the toddler a YouTube video “in an attempt to pacify” her before strangling her to death with a phone cord in Detroit.
Rashad Trice.Lansing Police Department/Twitter
Lansing Police Department/Twitter
“What happened is heart-wrenching, but today marks an important step forward as we seek justice for Wynter Cole-Smith’s family and the people of Michigan,” U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten said in a statement. “I’m incredibly grateful to FBI Michigan, the Lansing Police Department, and the more than two dozen other local, state, and federal partners who came running to help.”
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Wynter’s body was found near Coleman A. Young International Airport in Detroit days after she was kidnapped.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go tothehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
source: people.com
